North Korea Performs Nuclear Test

Posted: Mon 6:33 AM, Oct 09, 2006&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Mon 6:35 AM, Oct 09, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The United States and Australiademanded immediate U.N. Security Council action against North Koreafor its reported nuclear test, while China condemned its ally forblatantly defying the world. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the move "completelyirresponsible," and his government warned of serious consequencesfor the isolated regime. The U.N. Security Council planned to discuss the crisis Monday,and the United States and Japan are likely to press for aresolution imposing additional sanctions on Pyongyang. North Korea said it tested its first atomic bomb in anunderground explosion Monday morning. The White House said U.S. andSouth Korean intelligence detected a seismic event at a suspectedNorth Korean nuclear site and were trying to confirm Pyongyang'sclaims. "A North Korean nuclear test would constitute a provocative actin defiance of the will of the international community," saidWhite House spokesman Tony Snow. "We expect the U.N. SecurityCouncil to take immediate actions to respond to this unprovokedact." "The United States is closely monitoring the situation andreaffirms its commitment to protect and defend our allies in theregion," he added. China, a longtime North Korea supporter and host of stalledinternational talks to persuade the fellow communist country togive up its nuclear ambitions, strongly condemned the act. "China expresses its resolute opposition," the Chinese ForeignMinistry said. The North "defied the universal opposition ofinternational society and flagrantly conducted the nuclear test." Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government wouldcall on the U.N. Security Council to take "swift and effectiveaction" against North Korea, including financial, trade and travelsanctions. "But if the United Nations fails to act effectively againstthis outrage from North Korea, it will represent a furtherdiminution of its authority," Howard said. A Security Council resolution adopted in July after a series ofNorth Korean missile launches imposed limited sanctions on NorthKorea and demanded that the reclusive communist nation suspend itsballistic missile program - a demand the North immediatelyrejected. The resolution bans all U.N. member states from selling materialor technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to NorthKorea. It also prohibits all nations from receiving missiles,banned weapons or technology from the North, known as theDemocratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK. Britain warned there would be repercussions for the reportednuclear test. "I condemn this completely irresponsible act by the governmentof the DPRK," Blair said in a statement issued by his office."This further act of defiance shows North Korea's disregard forthe concerns of its neighbors and the wider internationalcommunity." The European Union called for "a decisive internationalresponse to this provocative act." French Foreign MinisterPhilippe Douste-Blazy echoed the appeal. "It is again up to the international community to react veryfirmly," Douste-Blazy told The Associated Press at the UnitedNations office in Geneva. South Korea, which shares the world's most heavily armed borderwith the North, said it put its military on high alert. North Korea has created "a severe situation that threatensstability on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia," SouthKorean President Roh Moo-hyun told journalists after a summit withJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He said the test would make it difficult for Seoul to maintainits efforts to strengthen ties with its communist neighbor. "This is a warning as well as my prediction," Roh said."Under this situation, it's difficult for South Korea to maintainengagement policy." Abe said the development and possession of nuclear weapons byNorth Korea would transform the security environment in the region. "We will be entering a new, dangerous nuclear age," said Abe,who is facing his first major foreign policy test since his recentelection. Earlier Abe called for a coordinated and levelheaded response. "It is important for Japan and South Korea, along with theUnited States and China, to work together and send a message to theworld," he said. Indonesia also condemned the reported test as "unacceptableunder any justifiable reason."

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